Gather and prep your ingredients prior to cooking. Chop the bacon, chop the beef (or have the butcher do this for you to save time!), chop the veggies, smash the garlic, wash your herbs, uncork the wine. Having all your ingredients ready to go will help the preparation run smoothly.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Start by thoroughly patting the beef dry using paper towels. Damp beef will not brown properly but rather steam and turn an icky shade of gray when cooked.

In a large dutch oven pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add to this your bacon and cook for several minutes, until the bacon is browned and has released most of its fat. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon, leaving the fat in the pan.

Over medium-high heat, brown the beef in the bacon fat for one or two minutes on each side. Do not overcrowd the pan. The beef should quickly develop a nice caramelized brown on the surface. Turn the beef to brown on all sides, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Repeat until all of the beef has been browned. If your meat is not browning properly the pan is either over crowded, not hot enough, or your meat is too damp. Use caution when browning the meat as the hot fat tends to spatter at times.

Once all of the beef is browned, lower the heat to medium and add the carrots and onions to the hot pan. Cook for five minutes or until they develop a golden brown color. Then, carefully pour out the excess bacon drippings, leaving the veggies in the pan.

Add the beef and bacon back into the pot. Add to that the tomato paste, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, wine and beef broth. Stir to combine. Cover and place back in the oven to cook for 3 to 3 and ½ hours.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms

For the onions:

Heat the butter and oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan to allow the onions to roll around in the pan and brown on all sides. Add to the onions the beef stock and fresh herbs. Allow to come to a simmer, lower the heat, cover and simmer slowly for about 20 – 30 minutes. Check the pan towards the end of the cooking time. Most of the liquid should have evaporated and formed a brown glaze around the onions. Season with salt and pepper, remove the herbs, then set aside.

For the mushrooms:

Heat the butter and oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the foam from the butter begins to subside (an indication that the butter is hot enough according to Julia) add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and set aside.

Once the beef has finished cooking remove from the oven. Run the stew through a strainer separating the meat, herbs and veggies from the liquid sauce. Place the meat back in the pot, you don’t need to add the veggies and herbs but if some get mixed in that’s okay it will just add texture to the stew. Place the separated sauce in a pan and allow to rest for a few minutes. Excess fat with rise to the surface, use a spoon to collect and discard about half to three fourths of the fat. You should be left with 2 to 3 cups of sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add to the sauce the mashed butter and flour mixture and stir with a wire whisk over medium heat, bring to a simmer and stir until slightly thickened and smooth.

Now you are ready to combine all the ingredients, add to the meat in the pot the thickened sauce, brown-braised onions and sautéed mushrooms. Warm over medium heat and stir to combine all the ingredients.

Beef Bourguignon can be served over buttered noodles, mashed potatoes or simply with a sliced baguette.

Slow Food Urban San Diego is excited to announce the arrival of the Spring 2015 issue of Edible San Diego for Kids. This issue is all about seafood. It features articles written by San Diego kids and a delicious seafood recipe that kids can help make at home. There’s also a gardening activity (hint: what squiggly crawlers help soil to stay healthy?). This issue is a bit more advanced that our first two, so we recommend it for 4th through 6th grade students.

Edible San Diego for Kids is produced by Slow Food Urban San Diego’s Education Committee in collaboration with Edible San Diego. If you are interested in having copies delivered to your school, please email christina@slowfoodurbansandiego.org by April 20th.

Preheat oven to 350° Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices in a food processor and blend for 30 seconds. Transfer to a double boiler. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently. The mixture will thicken and get a bit darker. Remove the bowl from the double boiler. In a separate bowl whisk together whole eggs, egg yolk, milk and heavy cream; slowly whisk in one cup of the warm pumpkin mixture to temper the eggs. Then with an electric mixer (or food processor) combine egg and milk mixture into the pumpkin puree.

Pour into ovenproof 6-ounce pudding cups or ramekins and place onto a baking sheet. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until puddings barely jiggle when shimmied and/or a knife tip inserted into the center of puddings comes out clean.

While they bake, combine whipping cream, sugar and cinnamon in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip until peaks just begin to form.

When the puddings are cooked through, transfer to a cooling rack on the counter, then cool completely at room temperature, about 1 to 2 hours. Chill until ready to serve. Serve with gingersnap cookie.

Pumpkin Puree

Makes 2 to 2 ½ pounds

1 (4 to 6 lb) Pumpkin

Kosher salt

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Boil (or microwave) the pumpkin for 10 minutes (till just soft enough that you can easily indent the skin with your finger). Cut off the stem and cut in half. Scoop out the seeds and fiber with a large metal spoon or ice cream scoop (reserve seeds for another use). Cut into 8 wedges and sprinkle the flesh with kosher salt; lay flesh side down, on a parchment paper-lined half sheet pan. Roast until a paring knife can be easily inserted and removed from the pumpkin, 30 to 45 minutes. Test in several places to ensure doneness. Remove the half sheet pan to a cooling rack and cool the pumpkin for 1 hour. Using a large spoon, remove the roasted flesh of the pumpkin from the skin to the bowl of a food processor. Process until the flesh is smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.